Re: No AAA member, what if I get a flat tire?

>> On the couple of times in 30 years when I've had a tire blow
>> out, and the one time I was stupid and thought I could make
>> it to the next gas station but couldn't, and the time the
>> engine just lost power and quit on me, all on the freeway,
>> I managed to get to the side of the road and out of traffic
>> with the momentum I had left, without hitting anything or
>> even coming close to hitting or being hit.  All of these
>> happened in at least moderate traffic.
>
>Assuming that one's car is in the right lane when it conks out,

No, you don't get to assume that.  You can assume that I am in the
rightmost *NON-EXIT-ONLY* lane most of the time.  The city freeways
I drive on tend to average maybe 0.8 exit-only (or entrance lanes
about to disappear) lanes at any given time, and I think there is
one spot where there are *FIVE*.  Ok, maybe you call that one a
left exit I'm taking, but in any case, from the lane I'm in, I would
have to cross 5 lanes to the right or 3 lanes to the left to get
to the side of the road.  In any case, having at least one entrance
or exit lane to the right of me is the norm.  Two or three are not
that uncommon.

>I think all this fear of being hit is overblown.  A car doesn't
>suddenly become invisible just because the engine stops or a 
>tire blows out, right?  

It does become a lot harder to avoid if it's going much slower than
the normal flow of traffic (or worse, stopped).  People also don't
expect a vehicle to be going really slow (on a 60MPH highway, finding
someone doing 40 is not that unusual.  Finding someone doing 20
is.) in a traffic lane.  This is a major reason for chain-reaction
rear-end accidents.

>Assuming you're not sitting in a blind
>curve or below the crest of a hill, 

These are not that uncommon.

>people are going to see you
>and brake or steer around you just like they'd see and brake or
>steer around a slower vehicle (as opposed to a _stopped_ vehicle)
>in their lane.

If only 1 in 100 fails to do that, what's my life expectancy trying
to push a car in a traffic lane?  Probably less than 15 minutes.

                                                Gordon L. Burditt